Abstract
The paper focuses on teachers as political actors. The political role of teachers is examined in a context of a specific policy issue: policies of tracking and de-tracking in the Czech Republic.
The term “tracking” is used for a practice of assigning students to different educational programs on the basis of perceived ability or other criteria (Hallinan 1998). The tracking practice was renewed in the Czech Republic after the Velvet Revolution in 1989 and has widened.
It has been perceived controversial and been criticized for supporting social inequalities from late 90s. However, the governmental efforts to reduce the tracking practice in Czech schools have hit the strong public and pedagogical resistance.
The role of teachers in the debate about (de)tracking stays in the focus of the paper. Besides the empirical evidence of teachers’ attitudes and activities two more general questions will be discussed.
First, what is a character of teachers as political actor/s? Can teachers be approached as a collective actor with specific collective position, interests, beliefs and activities? Alternatively, are there several distinct interest groups among teachers or may teachers be approached as individuals without any collectivity? Second, what type of rationality teachers apply? What are roots of teachers’ attitudes toward tracking? What are teachers’ arguments for and against tracking based on? Do they follow their interests or beliefs? Do they use their expert knowledge and experience in the line of reasoning? Analysis is based on fifteen semi-structured interviews with experienced teachers. Data from representative survey among Czech teachers realized in 2009 are also included.